If you watched News4JAX on Thursday morning, and I hope you did, you might have seen our harrowing story about the 19-year-old father who was taken too soon by a lightning strike.
Ethan Lawerence was struck and killed while running in a local park. Sadly he leaves his girlfriend and son behind.
Lightning is one of the many weather dangers, and I want to tell you everything you need to know about lightning, and what the strikes can do.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning can strike people in five ways: A direct strike, a side flash, a ground current, conduction, and streamers.
Each of these strikes can cause immeasurable damage to a person, and even death.
A direct strike occurs primarily when a person is in an open area, and when struck, the strike moves through the nervous system or the cardiovascular area of the body. When a direct strike hits, burns can also occur due to the heat of the lightning on the body. Survival depends on how strong the current becomes as it moves through the body.
A side flash is when the lightning strikes something taller than a person but in very close proximity. When the lightning strikes the taller object, some of the energy within the lightning discharges onto a person and strikes them as well.
A ground current is responsible for the majority of lightning deaths because the lightning strikes something such as a tree or a home, but then travels on the ground, exposing people to being struck. The dark side of ground currents is that they spread wide distances, so according to the National Weather Service, farm animals are often exposed to ground currents and killed.
Conduction happens both inside and outside, and it’s when the lightning strike travels very long distances within metal or wires. Essentially this is why it’s unsafe to shower or mess with anything that you might plug in during a storm. Outlets and things that plug into outlets can be affected.
Finally, streamers occur when the main lightning bolt hits the ground, but surrounding “streamers” come down, and can strike a person and injure or kill them.
Lightning strikes can kill and injure people and animals. Typically when a person survives they can have brain damage or burns from lightning strikes.
According to the National Weather Service, lightning strikes about 20 people a year, and causes harm to many, many more.
Whether skies are blue or gray, remember that if you HEAR thunder, you ARE in the risk zone for lightning and you CAN get struck.
Stay safe out there and when thunder roars, go indoors.